Crystal and Steaven need our help

This is Crystal Jones. Many people around Atlanta know her as grandmother. What follows is an opportunity for the community to rally around a woman that does so much for so many, and now needs our support in return.

Crystal is a modern-day Mary Poppins. She might show up to watch your kids for the night with a bounce house. On weekends, she drives around a 15-passenger van, picks up a gaggle of kids and takes them out on incredible day-long adventures. They return home tired, fed, and so happy. Their parents have had a full day to themselves. Crystal provides the most exceptional care for children all over metro Atlanta, and she will tell you it's because she raised 4 kids on her own and she wants parents to feel supported in ways she never did.

Her smile is infectious and her warmth can be felt at 200 yards. She manages to provide support for so many families, and she wants to start a business (the website is almost finished!). But when she goes home from caring for others' kids, she cares for two adult children with disabilities under the direst of circumstances.

Crystal is the most enterprising, entrepreneurial person you will ever meet, but she is underwater caring for her sons and dealing with a medical system and housing system that keep shutting them out. She has worked for decades to find solutions, to work the systems. But they're just not working for her. That's where we come in.

1. Steaven

Crystal's adult son Steaven was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager. It has taken years to find the right combination of medicines that help him be comfortable and communicative (such as a monthly shot of Invega). But Georgia Medicare has declined to cover that medication. Without insurance, it's $1,200 a month. That's almost half of the family's income. Without the medication, Steaven's condition becomes severe and he suffers tremendously, sometimes wanders off. Recently, during a particularly bad episode, he was arrested. The danger of mental illness for young Black men is exponentially greater because police often see them as a threat. Steaven's medicine is critical for his life, his safety, and the peace and safety of his family.

One of the only ways Crystal can get support for Steaven is when his condition is severe enough that he can be committed to a county hospital. That triggers some emergency support that only lasts a few weeks after he is hospitalized. It's traumatic for Steaven and for Crystal.

2. Ronald

Meanwhile, Crystal is also caring for her other adult son, Ronald, who was paralyzed several years ago. Their home is not wheelchair accessible, and Crystal has to move her son in and out of the bathroom on a wheeled desk chair in order to fit through the door. While she has sufficient income and savings to afford a better apartment or even a down payment on a house, because she is self-employed she hasn't been able to get a loan or provide sufficient income verification to find an accessible three-bedroom rental. They have been taken advantage of by an unethical landlord who has refused to repair their hot water. The family has been living without running hot water for more than four months.

Crystal's dream is to live in a quiet place with lots of woods where she and her sons can enjoy the outdoors. She wants peace and calm for Steaven. She wants Ronald to be able to access the bathroom on his own (and he would like that, too!)

We are raising funds:

If you can lend a hand navigating the Medicare system for mental health in Georgia (or you know another place in the Southeast where they can find better care), if you have connections to a pro-bono attorney or better housing for this family, please reach out.

Thank you!